Man given sentence of 9 years for killing girlfriend's daughter

WORCESTER — A city man was sentenced to 9 to 9˝ years in state prison Friday after pleading guilty to manslaughter in the 2011 death of his girlfriend's 4-year-old daughter.

Richard Castillo, 36, formerly of 23 West Boylston Drive, had been charged with first-degree murder in the Feb. 17, 2011, death of Arianie Acevedo, but pleaded guilty Friday in Worcester Superior Court to a reduced charge of voluntary manslaughter under an agreement with prosecutors.

Mr. Castillo also pleaded guilty to charges of assault and battery on a child causing injury and reckless endangerment of a child. A charge of permitting substantial injury to a child was dismissed under the plea agreement.

Assistant District Attorney Courtney Sans told the court that police, firefighters and emergency medical personnel were dispatched to 23 West Boylston Drive about 5:40 p.m. Feb. 17, 2011, for a report of an unresponsive child.

Upon arrival, they found the 4-year-old in her bedroom not breathing. Dr. Eryyn Lynbaugh, who responded as part of his medical training, noted that the child was soaking wet and cold to the touch and that the girl's extremities showed the beginning stages of rigor mortis.

Mr. Castillo and the child's mother, Lymarie Acevedo, were the only adults in the home. The mother was crying uncontrollably, and Mr. Castillo was unable to answer when firefighters repeatedly asked how the girl came to be soaking wet, according to Ms. Sans.

The 4-year-old was taken by ambulance to UMass Memorial Medical Center — University Campus, where she was pronounced dead at 6:13 p.m.

Dr. Rebecca Moles, a child abuse pediatrician, examined the child and saw multiple areas of bruising on her body, including on her chest, lower back, buttocks, arms and flanks, according to Ms. Sans.

"Dr. Moles noted the bruises to be too numerous to count and represented more than one episode of blunt trauma to the child's body surfaces with bruising in areas not associated with active child's play or accident," the prosecutor said.

Dr. Moles described a bruise on the child's lower back and buttocks as "linear in configuration" and "patterned in appearance" and determined that it represented an inflicted injury, according to Ms. Sans. It was the doctor's opinion the remaining bruises were likely inflicted as well, the assistant district attorney said.

At autopsy, pathologist Dr. Kimberly Springer noted the contusions seen by Dr. Moles as well as fracture callouses of the ribs and a laceration to the mesentery. Mesentery refers to a supporting membrane or a membrane enclosing an internal organ.

Dr. Springer determined the cause of death to be blunt trauma of the torso with mesentery laceration and the manner of death to be homicide, according to Ms. Sans. It was Dr. Springer's opinion that the mesenteric injury was one to three days old, Ms. Sans said.

Toxicology tests also revealed the presence of an antihisamine found in over-the-counter cold and sleep medications in the child's system, according to the prosecutor.

Investigators determined the 4-year-old had been in the sole care of either her mother or Mr. Castillo, who lived with Ms. Acevedo, in the days leading to her death.

Mr. Castillo worked nights at Federal Express in Auburn and Ms. Acevedo worked days as a pharmacy technician at CVS. While each was at work, the other adult was the sole caregiver for Arianie and her 6-month-old half-sister, according to Ms. Sans.

Ms. Acevedo is under indictment on charges of assault and battery on a child causing substantial bodily injury, permitting substantial injury to a child and reckless endangerment of a child. Her case is expected to be resolved short of trial in the coming weeks, according to Ms. Sans.

If Mr. Castillo's case had gone to trial, Ms. Acevedo was expected to testify that on the night of Feb. 16, 2011, she returned home from work to find that Arianie had urinated and defecated in her bed, according to Ms. Sans. After bathing the girl and changing her clothing and bedding, Ms. Acevedo asked Mr. Castillo about a large red mark on the child's back, she said.

Mr. Castillo responded that the girl had fallen earlier in the day, but provided no further explanation, according to the prosecutor.

Ms. Sans said Ms. Acevedo brought her youngest child to a doctor's appointment the next day, again leaving Arianie in the care of Mr. Castillo. Upon her return home, she tried to feed the 4-year-old soup and yogurt, but the child was unable to eat and instead took a nap, according to Ms. Sans.

While both children were napping, Ms. Acevedo and Mr. Castillo also decided to get some sleep, the prosecutor said. Ms. Sans said Ms. Acevedo was awakened by Mr. Castillo leaving the bed to check on Arianie. A short time later, Ms. Acevedo heard Mr. Castillo yelling for her to call 911, according to the assistant district attorney.

Ms. Acevedo got up and found Mr. Castillo trying to revive Arianie in her bedroom, Ms. Sans said.

The prosecutor said Ms. Acevedo was also prepared to testify that a doctor had recommended giving Arianie Benadryl at night to help her sleep after the child suffered a leg fracture in 2009.

Photographs taken by police at the couple's apartment showed a medicine cup on the bathroom sink with a residue in it similar in color to Benadryl, according to Ms. Sans. Ms. Acevedo's testimony reportedly would have been that she did not give Arianie any Benadryl in the days preceding her death and that at no time did she strike the child, causing the injuries she suffered, according to Ms. Sans.

The prosecutor said the plea agreement in the case, which included a 3-year period of probation for Mr. Castillo, was reached after hours of discussions among the lawyers, Ms. Acevedo and her family, the child's biological father and police.

The child's grandmother, Norma Rivera, was in tears as she gave an impact statement in court.

"She was the most beautiful baby I've ever seen. She was the light of my life," Ms. Rivera told Judge James R. Lemire. Referring to Mr. Castillo, the grandmother said, "I hope that every single day of his life, he remembers her and knows what he did."

As conditions of probation, Mr. Castillo was ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation and any treatment deemed appropriate by the court, to abide by any state Department of Children and Families plans in place relative to his two children and to have no unsupervised contact with any children under age 16. Mr. Castillo was given credit for time served since his arrest on Feb. 17, 2011.